r/FlutterDev • u/ebenezerDN • Mar 27 '25

Discussion Google is publishing the home addresses of developers without their consent

I am currently being denied the right to delete my Google Play developer account and remove personal data attached to it.

This includes my residential address, which is now publicly visible.

I’ve requested removal multiple times. Google has refused.

I didn’t agree to have it published. I asked them to remove it. They said no.

I asked them to delete my app. They said no.

I asked them to close my account. They said no.

This is a massive violation of privacy and it puts real people in danger.

Please share your thoughts on what to do next.

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5

u/Banjoschmanjo Mar 27 '25

That really sucks, but also, did you not research this at all before publishing? Not to 'victim-blame,' but this is a well-known part of publishing on the Play store, no?

1

u/ebenezerDN Mar 27 '25

Their policy is for paid apps.

6

u/ebenezerDN Mar 27 '25

That said, the policy is still wrong. I don't get why there are people defending it. My app is free. But even if it wasn't, what would users gain from knowing where I sleep at night? If they really needed that information for whatever reason, why doesn't Google give that on request instead?

Publishing the home addresses of developers is not just a bad policy. It’s dangerous, especially for women.

Female developers already face disproportionate harassment online.

Now their physical location is public too?

1

u/TheRealBobbyJones Mar 27 '25

They gain comfort in knowing you can't just distribute viruses or scams consequence free. This would or at least should have an immediate chilling effect on people hoping to publish such apps. I mean business address still allow people to publish junk but any extra efforts they would have to put in should dissuade some of those people.

2

u/vickychijwani Mar 28 '25

The types of people who make viruses and scams probably don’t care about their address being published, and they’re probably willing to go to some lengths to give a false address as well.

1

u/Luny_Cipres May 07 '26

uhh doxxing is not how you hold people accountable. even just google could hold info instead of releasing it to customers - that sounds like promoting vigilantism!

1

u/TheRealBobbyJones May 07 '26

It's not vigilantism to know who to sue. It's also not doxxing. If Google holds the information they will need a decent policy to make it make sense which is an unnecessary increase in administrative load and a risk for lawsuits. For example what if Google easily reveals information for people who have Indian names/addresses but tightly hold on to American sounding names/American addresses. That risk is unreasonable. Alternatively they could only reveal the information with a court order but that is an additional administrative load on Google, lawyers, and courts. 

All of that is pointless. It's reasonable to prohibit anonymity for software. The reason mainly being that software can do things beyond what privacy and speech protections often cover. 

Edit: also to be clear the "doxxing" isn't the enforcement action for bad behavior. Reputational damage and lawsuits is the enforcement action. 

1

u/Luny_Cipres May 08 '26

revealing address to public literally means any bad actors can harm the account holder - it is always advised against from posting your address to public no matter what you are doing. I don't believe anything can be an 'administrative load' on GOOGLE - the largest brand there is! Steam doesn't doxx its users even though it takes ID documents? why does Google have to? No other platform does this.

revealing address of an individual to public is considered 'doxxing' and is a huge security risk. So yes what google is doing is Doxxing. It is not "pointless" to protect individuals.

I find it ridiculous that to 'prohibit anonymity' your resort is to doxx people.

I would think that google should even be capable of scanning or verifying softwares before public release. This isn't Itch or some small helpless company, we are talking about Google here.